Seth Grahame-Smith writes another novel out of the new genre of books that marries historical fiction with fantasy/horror. What's next: George Washington and the Philadelphia Werewolves? All kidding aside, this is an enjoyable example of that new genre. It is well written and features many historical figures that are either vampires or sympathetic to them. If you thought the life of Abe Lincoln was tragic, this book will bring tragedy to a new level.
The author, Seth Grahame-Smith, is a young man working in a five & dime store, when he meets a mysterious stranger, Henry. One day Henry leaves a package for the author at the counter. The package is accompanied by a letter stating that the contents are to be kept secret, and a manuscript is to be written about the subject matter. He opens the package and finds ten leather-bound journals and a bundle of letters. The first book he picks up is entitled "This is the journal of Abraham Lincoln"! As he commits to the writing of the manuscript, he learns that Henry is a vampire. Although Henry appears to be a young man, we later find out that he is well over 300 years old.
The journals start off with Abe as a young man. He finds out via his father that his grandfather was killed by a vampire. He later finds out that his aunt, uncle, and mom were also killed by a vampire, which leads him to lose faith in God and become a vampire hunter. Abe fashions a long black coat with many pockets to hide his famous axe and wooden stakes, and off he goes solo against the world of the undead.
Later in life, Abe is almost killed by a old lady vampire, but is saved by the inexplicably good vampire, Henry. Henry teaches Abe all the tricks and trades of slaying and detecting the undead. Abe also picks up two accomplices, Jack Armstrong, and "Speed", as the story continues to unfold. Most of the leads Abe gets are in the form of a letter signed " H ", giving him the name of the next bad vampire to eliminate.
The journals continue to tell the trials and tribulations of our 16th President during his extraordinary life, marred by the death of three sons, the death of his first fiancee, and the pressure of the coming Civil War. The questions are: Were the vampires involved in these deaths? Did they participate for the South during the Civil War? Did they assassinate Lincoln? Did Lincoln even die? You will have to read all ten journals that were given to the author of this book to find out.
Even though I enjoyed the book, I'm not sure I'm sold on this type of writing. I've read three books by Matthew Pearl, but he writes novels about real people, like Charles Dickens, in a historical time frame. If Seth Grahame-Smith wrote about Dickens, it would probably be "Charles Dickens meets Frankenstein". I guess I'm a historical fiction fan without the fantasy/horror.
RATING: 3.5 stars out of 5
Comment: If you want to read about Lincoln's real life, I suggest Lincoln by Gore Vidal, written in 1984. Of historical note, Lincoln was the first Republican to win the Presidency in 1860. Although Lincoln ran against three opponents, he still had 180 Electoral votes vs their combined 123 votes. Finally, he was so hated in the South that he was not even on the ballot in ten Southern States.
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